Reflective transfer sheetings are used to transfer a reflective design of decal onto an article, such as a garment. When the garment is worn in dim light on the dark, the transfer will glow when light is cast upon the garment. The garment will glow when exposed to the light eminating from the headlights of an oncoming vehicle. The reflective transfer also provides an aesthetic appearance to the garment. An example of a reflective transfer sheeting and method of manufacturing the same is disclosed in the U.S. Patents to the applicant, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,248,500 issued Feb. 3, 1981 and 4,401,494 issued Aug. 30, 1983.
Various methods have been used to manufacture reflective transfer sheetings. The beads are usually spilled over a substrate and then coated with a binder material or the beads may be mixed with a binder material which is then cured to form a reflective layer. Such methods are disclosed in U.S. Patents to Goldman U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,405,025 issued Oct. 8, 1968 and Harper et al 4,102,562 issued July 25, 1978.
Transfer sheetings have been made using various substrates. In particular, the U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 430,835 filed Sept. 30, 1982 and 431,226 filed Sept. 30, 1982 to applicant disclose the use of a substrate having three layers. A first layer is made from a fibrous material. A middle layer is made from a deformable thermoplastic and the third layer is a release agent, such silicone.
Through various tests, applicant has discovered a novel feature of the release agent coat; that the substrate can be passed through a trough of beads and that the beads will adhere to the release agent coated surface. This step has been incorporated into the subject invention and has been developed to produce a novel transfer sheeting and method of making the same.